Turkey is screwed. And it’s all US fault (corrected text)

Amid rising tensions between Turkey and Russia over the situation in Syria, one important fact got lost. It’s not Russia that caused the current Turkish problems. It was the USA.

The most fundamental problem modern Turkey is facing is the Kurdish question. It’s a chronic problem, which threatens the integrity of Turkey and the Turkish elite perceives it as the largest security treat the country is facing. Turkish policies in Syria are determined by the Kurdish issue more than anything else. The change from the so called policy of zero problems with neighbors, which Erdogan and his government used to promote, came as a surprise to many and is directly related to the Kurdish issue and the events in Iraq after the disastrous US invasion.

Here, a little historical excursion is needed. When the modern Turkish state was created on the ashes of the Ottoman empire following defeat in WWI, it was seeking a new identity on which it could successfully establish itself. The new young Turkish elite chose the model of nationalism, at that time a progressive concept so popular in contemporary Europe.

Turkey, just like some of its European counterparts, was however faced with the imperial heritage of diverse ethnic groups living on its newly established territory. There were large and ancient communities of Greeks, Armenians, Kurds and many other people living in Anatolia and the European part of Turkey. Ethnic Turks themselves were relative newcomers to these parts of the world, having arrived only in the 11th century. Greeks and other ethnic groups, on the other hand, can trace their presence in what is now Turkey well into the Bronze Age and beyond (3300-1200 BC).

The Turks managed to solve the Greek question after the Graeco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 and the large exchange of population which followed it. Most Greeks left Turkey and Turkey received an influx of ethnic Turks from Greece in return. The Armenian question got solved already during WWI in what many call the Armenian genocide. Term which Turkey fiercely opposes. It was a forceful deportation of Armenians into the Syrian desert. It is estimated that about 1.5 million of them died. Turkey acknowledges the fact of the deportation, but claims that loss of life was an unintended consequence rather than a deliberate act.

One ethnic question which Turkey however did not manage to solve is the Kurdish question. The Kurds are an ancient community of Iranian people who accepted Islam. They were skilled soldiers and played an important role in Islamic armies, including the Seljuk and the Ottoman. Indeed, the most famous historical Kurdish figure is Saladin (name under which he is known in the West), a Muslim general who reconquered Jerusalem during the Crusades and a sultan of Egypt and Syria.

The Turks tried to solve the Kurdish issue by straightforward assimilation. They announced that from now on, Kurds are simply „Eastern Turks“ and banned the Kurdish language. The Kurds resisted and the Turks answered with repression, forced relocation, discrimination and heavy handed military crackdown. Kurds in Turkey are since then in de facto constant rebellion and a, sometimes less sometimes more intense, war with the Turkish government, which claimed thousands of lives on both sides.

Despite having an advantage in numbers and equipment, Turkey seems to be slowly losing this war. It is estimated that Kurds make up to about 20% of the Turkish population and Kurdish families have about double the birthrate of Turkish ones. In a few decades, this will eventually lead to a situation when there will be more Kurdish than Turkish men of military age in Turkey.

To make matters worse for Turkey, Kurds do not live only in Turkey. Thanks to the post colonial legacy and arbitrariness of borders, which France and Britain drew in the sands, plains and hills of the Middle East, similarly sized Kurdish communities live in the neighboring countries of Syria, Iraq and Iran. Together they inhabit one large, almost continuous area called Kurdistan. Fortunately for the Turks, the Kurds in these countries until recently faced similar persecution as in Turkey. All these countries perceive their Kurds as a threat to their territorial integrity. The most well know episode of this repression came when Saddam Hussein used poison gas on Kurds in Northern Iraq. That was by no means an exclusive example, but one which at the time suited Western interests in the Middle East and thus received widespread publicity in Western media. After decades of silent complicity. Which brings us back to the cause of the recent change in Turkish policies and the rising tension on Turkish-Syrian border.

When the USA decided to invade Iraq in 2003, Turkey correctly concluded that the operation is pure hazard with an unpredictable outcome. In a hope of minimizing the negative impact on Turkey itself, they decided to keep strict neutrality and to not intervene, and went so far as to refuse to allow their US and British NATO allies to use Turkish territory and bases for an attack.

The US attack on Iraq and the occupation led to an all out civil war inside the country and eventually broke Iraq into de facto Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parts. All of a sudden Turkey was faced not just with Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey, but, for the first time. also with (de facto) an independent Kurdish state right on its borders which could provide a safe haven (regroup and supply) area for Kurds from inside Turkey. That was a disaster. The Turks tried to deal with the situation with limited military incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan, attempts to buy Kurdish leaders and reliance on the ability of their US partners to keep the Kurds in check and prevent damage. Something the Americans turned out not to be very capable at. Perhaps even not willing.

The lesson Erdogan and the Turkish leadership sees to have learned from the events in Iraq was likely that abstaining from conflicts in the region will not shield Turkey from negative consequences and, if Turkey can not prevent these conflicts, it’s better that Turkey participates in them and thus is at last able to protect its interests by influencing the outcome.

When the USA and their NATO allies decided to change regimes in Northern Africa and engaged in yet another imperial adventure in Libya, following initial reluctance, Turkey agreed to join. And when the USA then decided to start a war in Syria, Turkey jumped on the wagon, probably on the promise of a quick victory and the instalment of a new government of the Muslim Brotherhood, friendly to Turkey and its ruling party. Ankara might have even expected such a government to be a Turkish client. That certainly was the expectation of Riyadh, another unfortunate victim of US Middle Eastern policies.

As is the rule with similar US foreign policies, they seldom work as advertised. When Assad proved to be resilient, Ankara and Riyadh were expecting Washington to do what it did in Libya and intervene under the pretext of a no fly zone and an alleged protection of civilians, a pretext well tested already in Yugoslavia. No man however steps into the same river twice, wisdom already ancient Greeks understood. After the disaster in Libya, opposition to intervention, led prominently by Russia and China, proved to be stronger, and support inside the USA and their British and French allies weaker than might have been anticipated. A no fly zone did not materialize. Of note is, that Turks and Saudis were its most outspoken proponents and they insist on establishing a no fly zone in Syria (euphemism for a US led intervention) till today. Meanwhile, Obama’s administration walked away, quietly thankful to the Russians for the face saving pretext in form of the chemical weapons deal.

Regime change in Syria thus had to be accomplished solely through proxies in the form of a colorful collection of various more or less disgusting Sunny Islamic groups, both local and foreign. Turkey and Saudi Arabia engaged in an enthusiastic support of these groups; openly supporting those under the moderate name, and less openly others, while publicly pretending to fight them as radicals and terrorists. In reality. the only group Turkey ever really fought in Syria were Kurds. Which is ironically probably the only significant opposition group in Syria which really deserves name moderate. Despite the catastrophic heterogeneity of these opposition groups, which are willing to fight each other as much as they are willing to fight Syrian government, it seemed that the government will be eventually worn down in a war of attrition.

But then came the unexpected Russian intervention and, against all assurances from Washington about the Russians having another Afghanistan, it managed to turn the tables and forced the rebels to what is increasingly looking like an all-out retreat. This is a disaster of epic proportions for Turkey. Instead of a friendly regime of the Muslim Brotherhood type in Damascus, which Ankara would be able to control, they are faced with the creation of a second Kurdish independent state on their borders. That’s what has sent the Turkish leadership into panic mode and that’s why the Turks are seemingly irrationally rising tensions on the border with Syria. In my opinion, the downing of the Russian plane, the shelling of Kurds and the concentration of military forces on the border, accompanied with aggressive rhetoric, are not so much meant to threaten Russia or Assad, they are first of all desperate attempts to force Washington to lead an invasion in Syria at last. Which is probably something Washington itself made Ankara and Riyadh expect in the first place. Now Washington is being seen dragging their feet and backing out. Neither Turkey, nor Saudi Arabia are likely to invade alone.

To conclude, the US policies of destabilizing countries and whole regions to suit their geopolitical and economic interests in the last decade or two proved to be often as damaging to US allies as they are to US opponents. If not more. Another case in point of course is the European migration crisis. What effect is that going to have on relations between the USA and their allies on one side, and US opponents on the other, remains to be seen. But it is reasonable to expect that dissatisfaction with US leadership will be on the rise.

The Essential Saker III: Chronicling The Tragedy, Farce And Collapse of the Empire in the Era of Mr MAGA

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121 Comments

Excellent summary, although I would like to add that, these “ancient” people are still in Turkey. Let me explain. As for Greece and Turkey, the swap was only to exchange the Turks from Greece for equal number of Greeks from Turkey. The other Greeks are still in Turkey.

@Saker,
I would like to dedicate this song to you and your Russian friends at Vinyard, for your wonderful work.
The song is performed by Greek Pontian group Odysseya and its in Russian ( Капали слёзы)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxXqb4mvQg

The so called “minorities” (jews, greeks & armenians) represent less than 1% of the Turkish population, so although they still do exist, they are completely irrelevant and negligible (70.000 for a country of almost 80 millions people).

The big problem in Turkey, as stated in the article, are the Kurds. Not only they were living in the country way before the Turks even set foot there, but they represent 1/5- 1/4 of the population. Not only that, but some of them are shia (alevi in turkish) which is worse than bad for the sunni Erdogan.

but... And there is a but that has to be known to you all. The Turks are not mean and violent people who just like to ethnically clean up their territory just for the fun of it. At least not more than any other nation. The real problem for the Kurds are… the Kurds themselves….

In most of the industrialized world it is almost impossible to understand the concept of “tribal land” which is what the real Kurdish problem is. Since the beginning of modern Turkey, Kurds had congressmen, senators etc, and are part of the elite running the country. But of course, not “normally” elected congressmen, more like “I own your village and order you to vote for my son or else” kinda congressmen.

In the seventies, the Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit (one of the very few honest politicians in Turkey) tried to implement a “land reform” in the south-east of Turkey (i.e. Kurdistan). Of course he was never allowed to complete it and no one else tried that since then.

Worse, because of the “Kurdish terrorists” threatening the “poor villagers” (i.e. the Kurds themselves), the government pays the local leaders (aga – lord) to buy weapons and enroll a private army (so called protectors).

So the east of Turkey is now a strange place where there is a regular army fighting the Kurdish “terrorists” from the PKK (damn communists who would love to have a land reform) and the “protectors”, protecting mostly their master’s interests.

Do the Kurds in Turkey really want to have their own country or at least some kind of independence ?

Well, since lots and lots of them do not live in the south east of the country (arid & mountainous) but in the industrial cities of the west, they don’t care at all and would much rather forget about the whole “Kurdish problem” and live a peaceful life.
Do the Kurds still living in their homeland do ? Well, not really either because for them nothing will change anyway. The “aga” will still be the “aga” and rule the land, the village and their lives. That is exactly what Barzani or Talabani are doing elsewhere…

But does the elite (the politicians & the agas) want the problem to remain ?

Of course !

The politicians pay and therefore can buy votes and rule the country, the agas get money and their very own private army for free. There is absolutely no reason for this perfect situation to change because some “terrorists” are unhappy about it :(

BTW… This is a sad but true anecdote that I experienced during my military service.
One day a history professor from some university (i.e. an important and very intelligent man) came to give us a speech. Over a thousand little green men were sitting and religiously listening to him. And that a…hole told us exactly this : “There are no Kurds, only degenerate Turks. If for some reason a Turk doesn’t feel well in his village and decides to go live higher in the mountains, we call him Kurd. That is because when the guy walks in the snow, his steps sound like “kitir kitir” (which is the snow walking sound in Turkish). Kitir kitir, thus the name: Kurd”.

As Americans, you really shouldn’t be ashamed of what you’re doing in this part of the world because the people who suffer would suffer just the same if you were staying home watching baseball. Unfortunately they get what they deserve and are very far from even thinking it could change someday… The very few who can imagine such a future try to fight for it (against everyone !) and are called terrorists :(

@Sysati I’m not that familiar with the Kurdish issue, but saying that the Kurds are really their own problem and that they don’t really care about Kurdistan, and its just their elites who are manipulating them, sounds very much like something I’ve heard before.

– Its the same thing the Europeans said about Africans, under colonialism: The ordinary Africans are happy being colonised, they don’t really want independence its just their nasty greedy leaders stirring them up.
– Same thing with apartheid, the apartheid regime and its supporters made the same argument: The SA blacks don’t really mind apartheid, its those damn communists and ANC leaders like Mandela and Tambo stirring them up.
– Same thing in Zimbabwe: the black population does’nt care about getting back the land, its that evil black Hitler Mugabe who is manipulating them so that they can support him against his democratic Western supported opposition (though, of course, the people don’t really care about the land).
– And the same thing in the US where we hear that Blacks are really having it pretty good and would have it better if they did not allow themselves to be manipulated by their fast talking (rhyming no less) venal leadership.

Oppressors never accept that those they oppress have just cause or are in fact suffering under their oppression. They always blame the oppressed for their condition. I doubt that the long standing and clearly determined resistance by the Kurds could be sustained without strong and deep rooted popular support.

“I’m not that familiar with the Kurdish issue, but saying that the Kurds are really their own problem and that they don’t really care about Kurdistan, and its just their elites who are manipulating them, sounds very much like something I’ve heard before.”

Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough…

What I’m trying to say is not anything like “they removed. racist. Mod TR are happy, Europe is bringing them civilization”… It’s more like “the removed. stop using racist words are being sold as slaves not by colonial Europe, but by their very own leaders”.

I mean the “Kurdish problem” will never be solved in Turkey if left to the government, because, part of that government is very much interested in keeping everything the way it is. The PKK is not only fighting the Turkish army but its own leaders and the “protectors” paid by the government !

The vast majority of the Kurds don’t care because they don’t live there and all they want is a peaceful life in Istanbul, Izmir or where ever they live. And for the poor ones still living in the south-east, it won’t make any difference anyway…

It is said that 20% of the country is of Kurdish origin. But during the last elections, their political party barely got 10% of the votes. Which means that half of them is not concerned by the problem or are integrated enough to the country so that voting for an “ethnic” party isn’t their first choice…

If I was Kurd and was offered a country (the south-east of Turkey) I would vote against it simply because it doesn’t make any sense… No natural ressources, high mountains, no industry… Ok, they would have a country and then do what ? Go to work in Turkey ? Who in Turkey would even consider giving them a job ? No one…

My point is that the Kurds are in deep sh…. because their leaders are working hand in hand with the “colonial Turks”. Who BTW have been there since 1071. If there was such a big cohabitation problem, I guess they would have done something about it in the past don’t you think ? There has never been a Turkish-Kurdish war in history…

The problem is fairly new and dates back 20 – 30 years not more than that. When I was a kid if someone in the street said “I’m Kurd” the answer would have been “so what ?” Unfortunately now it is more likely to be “I don’t like you because my cousin got killed in the army fighting against you guys” :(

Now there is almost a civil war in the country. But money and power hungry politicians are the only cause of the problem. Kurds and Turks have lived there for almost a thousand years without any problem… And I’m pretty sure that with a more “social” and non-religious government (one able to make that damn land reform) the “Kurdish problem” would completely disappear completely and fast…

I am sure that before 1765 the Americans felt British. But once they were overtaxed and treated as second rate citizens of the empire, they started an insurgency that fifteen years later lead to the independence of the 13 colonies from their homeland.

I think that the nation-concept is a cultural entity, that both lives from and — in order to survive — requires a functional economy that provides a homeland to the average citizen. Once this confidence bond between the citizen and the nation is broken, then the material reason for the citizen to identify himself with a nation-concept vanishes. And this becomes a particularly rude awakening when the situation affects an ethnic or singled-out group.

That is why the Americans took so little time to do away with their British identity and to replace it with their own, newly born, nation-concept.

Your analogy about slaves being sold by their leaders is just plain BS. What you are clearly saying is that if it wasn’t for their leaders, the Kurds would be just fine. That too is clearly BS.
That’s what all oppressors say. “It’s just a few trouble makers. The rest are fine with being our slaves.”

P.S. Letting slip with the racism says a lot about where you are coming from with your argument. Go Kurds!

If you were just reading what I’m writing instead of making suppositions about what I might be thinking we could go somewhere… Maybe :)

Let’s be clear, I am not racist, and not even really Turkish and by no means in favor of the corrupt government in place. If I was in charge, the Kurds would be treated as any human being should be: with respect for their person, culture, beliefs etc etc. Heck I would even give them their own land if it’s so important for them !

Now that is clear, again, what I am trying to say is that: “the Turks” are not especially racist and or violent. But their government is corrupt and would do anything to keep or even get more power.
As for “the Kurds”, it is the exact same thing. They are not 100% united and the leading elite is not at all doing anything remotely in favor of them.

Can you just accept that as an information that you might not have without jumping all over my face, my racism or where I’m coming from ?

“What you are clearly saying is that if it wasn’t for their leaders, the Kurds would be just fine. That too is clearly BS.”

Again, that is your interpretation of what I am supposedly saying… If they had real leaders, the Kurds would either 100% behind the PKK and fight for their lives and their country. Or more likely be perfectly happy in an environment where no one beats the hell out of them day after day… That is what I’m saying, nothing more nothing less. The concept of “Kurds” is not correct that’s all I’m saying…

Same thing for “the Turks”. If the Turkish army is not already in Syria it’s most likely because the people and the army of the country are against it. Erdogan can do a lot of things, but if he pushes too hard, he’s afraid that it’ll fall apart…

That’s why they invented “gray”, because everything is not just plain black or plain white… Sorry I used the word black… Guess it’s my racist self is showing up again :)

“That’s what all oppressors say. “It’s just a few trouble makers. The rest are fine with being our slaves.”
And that is also what the government and the local agas say…
The PKK is a minority and they are terrorists so we have to bomb them even if they don’t live in Turkey but in Syria… Don’t recall having said that anywhere ?

PS: my analogy about Africans being a little dumb but thanks to the good hearted Europeans, culture / civilization was given to them is not BS, It was pretty much the official version of colonialism for centuries… And may I remind you that a little over 100 years ago during the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, there were Africans displayed in a cage under the Eiffel tower !

@”And I’m pretty sure that with a more “social” and non-religious government (one able to make that damn land reform)”

So, are you saying—well, it sounds to me like what you are saying about Kurds in turkey is kind of like African Americans before WW2 and the big migration north. Namely, they are stuck in an atavistic tribal and village society where they are ruled over by clan chieftains and they just don’t have a modern society and are oppressed by their tribal leaders. As, in the USA, in one part of the country, socially and politically a more backward region, blacks were far more oppressed. Is this what you are saying?

So, are you saying that the challenge is really to break the hold of tribal and religious leaders over their clans and tribes and bringn teh southeastern portion of the country under the more advanced umbrella of the rest of Turkey? I should think this would be made a lot more difficult by the desecularization that now seems to be going on in Turkey. So, a religious aspect get added to the whole problem of modernization of a region of the country.

It seems like the rest of “modern’ Turkey is starting to retrogress, meeting the “less developed” portion halfway in the religious department, which seems like a pretty big wrong turn if you really want to pacify and modernize a backward region, especially if the now two active religions are historical adversaries. Better to keep religion out of the picture entirely.

What about the fact that one reads that in many areas controlled by Kurds the people have much better social services, educational services, etc. Is that just one group of Kurds? where are these Kurds located who seem to have their act together?

You pretty much got What I wanted to say. There is a collusion between some of the Kurds and the politicians governing the country. It’s always been like that since the creation of modern Turkey.

Things got worse after with PKK because the government pays for the private armies of the local “lords” now ! So getting rid of them will be even more complicated :(

Regarding the Kurds being socially more “advanced” than the Turks. In Turkey I doubt that it’s true simply because local democracy/power (i.e. mayor, etc) doesn’t really exist or mean much. And nationwide they don’t have a say anyway… But in Syria, it is true indeed.

Even in Turkey to some extend it is true at least in theory if not in reality. The Kurdish party HDP which means Democratic Party of the PeopleS. People with an “S” as in different kind of people can and do exist. They are also in favor of equal rights for women, minorities, secularism, religious freedom, etc etc… Anything a “normal” Western party would defend. Which is very new and not common in Turkey.

Another minority in the country is also a lot more evolved than the rest: the alevi (Turkish shia). Alevi women don’t have “tchadors”, they drink wine, men and women are not separated in public, during a wedding, they dance with their husbands, etc etc just like “normal people” :). But again, that vision in against the “official” Turkish islam which is getting stronger and stronger everyday :(

As long as some of the people are stronger/better/etc than the others, there won’t be a solution. The only way all this will peacefully end is if the government force everyone to respect the others: men vs women, sunni vs shia, turks vs kurds, etc
Which is pretty basic the the West but unfortunately the exact opposite of what the president has been doing for years here :(

Just last week he said “hey Americans, decide if your allied with us or the Kurds”.
Pretty much “you’re either with or against us” like some other world leader used in the past :)

Thanks for more info about Kurdish-Turkish relations. I am well aware of fractured nature of Kurdish society and their factionalism, which in my opinion was the most significant factor preventing progress in gaining any independence, full or limited. Focus of my article was on explaining why Turkey changed their policies and what motivates their current moves. As such I did not wanted to go in to describing state of Kurdish society more then was necessary.

I also did not try to be overly critical to Turks, they just like anybody else, Kurds including are advancing their own agenda and their own interests. Often with mistakes. Fact however is, that Turks deny existence of Kurds as a independent ethnic group and restricted use of their language.

In retrospect Turks could not really do much else with their Kurds. Even if Turks would grant Kurds all sorts of rights and treated them well, Kurdish emancipation, just like emancipation of any other people would eventually lead them to seek independence. Especially since independent Kurdistan is only way Kurds can reach unification (since they live in 4 different countries). And let’s face it, very few countries are willing to give up territory willingly, unless they are forced to, from a position of weakness. So in a way, Turkish oppression, just like Kurdish resistance was almost inevitable. From historical perspective.

“Fact however is, that Turks deny existence of Kurds as a independent ethnic group and restricted use of their language.”

This isn’t true anymore… There are radios and TV stations in Kurdish in Turkey today.

And I don’t think “Turks deny existence of Kurds”. Turks don’t care just like Kurds don’t care. They try to make a living and don’t care who is from where or believe in which god… The government does more and more because what happened in Irak and is happening in Syria and because there is that old fear of “disappearing”.

When the war ended, the biggest fear of the Turks was to loose even more territory to the British, French, Greeks etc. So “unity of the nation” is something no one can even mention here in Turkey. It is in the constitution and it cannot be changed.

And I repeat, if the Turkish Kurdistan wasn’t left alone to be ruled by those “agas” all those years, I am certain that there would be absolutely no problem at all and no emancipation or independence questions right now. Don’t think that the Kurds in Turkey (I mean the vast majority of them) want anything but to be left alone. As I said, their “country” is poor and underdeveloped and they make their living in the industrial west. Why would they want to be independent and bankrupt like the Irakian Kurds (who on top of it have oil which the Turks do not) ?

Would and independent “Kurdistan” (Turkey, Syria, Irak & Iran) would make sens ?
Of course it would. Is it even remotely possible ? No, certainly not simply because they wouldn’t be able to agree among themselves. Not mentioning as you say that none of those countries would willingly accept to give away part of their territory.

I don’t know about the other countries, but if there was a vote today in Turkey asking _only to Kurds_ if they want to be independent (and if they do, willing to leave Turkey) I am 100% certain that it wouldn’t pass… Of course if you make only the Kurds living in those geographical areas vote, I guess they would decide to be independent. But then, the ones living in the rest of the country would have to leave too etc etc… Imagine the mess and how happy would be the “integrated Kurds” happily living in Istanbul today…

Leaving things as they are is probably the best thing to do for everyone…

I have to agree with you. Turkish policies towards Kurds did change lately. Ironically it was Erdogan who begun easing restrictions on Kurds.

What I disagree is that Kurds or Turks for that matter don’t care. If they would not, there wouldn’t be Kurdish insurgency. Kurds might be seemingly hopelessly divided, but so were Germans or Italians. Kurdish emancipation will inevitably lead toward independence. I see it as a matter of time only. Kurds in Iraq are de facto independent and there is no force which would prevent the same in Syria. At the end great powers might decide to formally keep Syria and Iraq as a united states but in practice, Baghdad and Damascus are not going to regain control over their Kurdish territories and Kurds will be doing independent policies in all but the name.

Erdogan is a p.. of s… who played the Kurdish muslims against the Kemalist Turks at first, but when he didn’t get what he wanted, turned his back and openly declared war on them.

Actually, Europe asked him “to be nice” which he did… If the European integration process was going smoothly the Kurds would be much happier now. But Europeans don’t accept Turkey in Europe, so why continue this bullshit ?
Because there is another right-wing party that is about as important as the Kurdish party. Now he is expecting that he’ll get more votes from them. And unfortunately it works. After the end of the cease fire, the Kurdish party dropped from 13 to 10% and Erdogan’s votes skyrocketed !

“If they didn’t care there would be no insurgency…”
Look, I insist, there is no problem between the Turks and the Kurds. They lived next to each other for almost 1000 years. As I said earlier, when I was a kid, no one would make any difference. But after the creation of the PKK, and thousands of deaths on each side, now it’s complicated to have people listen to each other in good faith.

When you have tanks going into a city how can you expect the population to side with the army ? Of course they will support the so called terrorists ! And why are those guy terrorists ? Because they have been cheated, lied to and lost all the confidence they could have…

I hope they create a Syrian Kurdistan state or federal kinda state. I doubt it, but it could also merge with the existing Irakian one. That will either trigger a full blown war and Turkey will be split in two (with international helping hands). Or it could also simply make the politicians understand that you cannot treat some (an important part) of your population like sub-citizens…

That implies another kind of civil war with the fascists (the grey wolfs), who will most certainly not accept any kindness toward the Kurds…

The only solution is to simply do what the declaration of human rights say. Respect the other, you are not smarter/better than him and what you believe is not the only truth…. But that is definitively not the government’s moto these days :(

“What I disagree is that Kurds or Turks for that matter don’t care. If they would not, there wouldn’t be Kurdish insurgency”

But there really isn’t a “kurdish” Insurgency- That’s just a fancy western label. Recent polling and articles I’ve read demonstrate quite clearly the ordinary kurd doesn’t agree with the recent PKK attacks. The PKK has been terrorizing the ordinary kurds. The non aligned kurds blame the PKK and the Erdogan government, both.

It’s also been reported that a great many of the Kurds, being sunni muslim, voted for the AKP party in the last election.

Describing the ongoing situation in Turkey as an “uprising” is misleading, minimally.

Sysati,
Sorry to disagree with you, but it’s the Turks that hold only 5% of it’s population in this occupied by them land, Looking at the map from the article, you will see that the area to the left of where Kurd territory ends the Greek Pontus starts. Keep dreaming buddy.

To the east there is Kurdistan, to the west “Greek Pontus”.
So Turkey is in fact just Ankara and a few miles around it and that’s where the Turks should be living…
You’re right… And you’ll excuse me if I don’t bother answering your post…

SysATI: Well. My friend, I think you are misinformed. Your kind hasn’t been in Asia Minor more than 500 years, and Pontus still exists. Changing the names to your liking does not change the fact. BTW, are you sure that you are not a Crypto-Greek or -Armenian or -Kurd?
Also, it took you a while to figure out the map. I do not need the Wikipedia to orient myself around Asia Minor.

If you mean “my kind = turk” than, beleive me, Alp Arslan (Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri) did enter in what is commonly called Anatolia in 1071 near Van and defeated the Byzantines armies.
In Turkey that is considered to be the day Turks (Selçuk Turks were Turks too) entered Turkey and that is a little less than 1000 years ago…

Now regarding my origins… I am a mixture of Normand & German on one side and Albanian and who knows what on the other. I did have a Greek girlfriend and love listening to Kostas Pavlidis but I doubt it makes me Greek in any way. And to tell you the truth, I really don’t care.

But what you are saying does interest me…
So according to you, Pontus still exists and people living there kinda hide what they really are ?
I wish it were true… Than an a…hole like Erdogan wouldn’t be coming from Pontus :(
He was born in Istanbul, but his father came from Rize-Rhizaeum. So he’s a Crypto-Greek…
Hell of a present you made to Turkey :(

BTW as far as I know Pontus is populated by Laz people who have anything to do with Greeks since they are of Caucasian origins?

Very few people in Pontus would consider themselves Greek today. But a lot of the people there are thought to be “Turkicfied” Greeks. Whether the majority,I couldn’t say for sure. The Turks “frown” on much research along those lines. The eastern areas of that region are (and always was) home to a Laz people,who are Erdo’s ethnic ancestry I’ve heard. They are a part of the Georgian ethnic peoples.From what little research done there (a fascinating region in itself),most of the Turks seem to be Turkicfied peoples.Coming from Greeks,Laz,and Armenians,that were the majority there since ancient days.Once they converted to Islam (and especially since Ataturk’s day) they were counted as Turks.It’s said most of those families know their ancestry,but for safety reasons (and in many cases,personal feelings) they publicly deny it.Only in private is it talked about.

Turkey/Anatolia has always been a bridge between east & west and north & south. A lot of people crossed it and some stayed. So yes there is no Turkish “race” and modern day Turks are a mixture of all of those people including Greeks, Armenians, Laz you name it. But living among them I can assure you that none of them feel that they are anything but Turks.

As I said earlier, there is a very small “minority” (less than 1%) of Greeks, Armenians, Jews etc still living there and proud of their origins. But the rest is Turkish even in their own heads. Of course everyone comes from somewhere. So they know that they are Georgians or from the Balkans or whatever, but trust me no one knowingly hides its origin because of fear, shame or whatever.

Turkey is a very very new country without a past including its inhabitants. After WW1 and the end (pitiful end) of the Ottoman Empire, a new “star” has risen; Atatürk. And for most people that is the beginning of everything. They purposefully tried to forget anything prior to that. They are “modern/european” and anything before that wasn’t them but the Ottoman Empire, which is something different than Turkey. (So any problem the Armenians might have had, has nothing to do with them…)

Of course none of this is true, it is a defense mechanism but until very recently the past was ignored, history was ignored, etc Atatürk said that they had to be “modern” so they are and they have no past whatsoever…

With Erdogan, the glorious past of the Turks/Ottomans has started to be appreciated again. I am not sure it’s a good thing but then again living without a past/history isn’t a solution either…

So trust me when I say that the vast majority of the people in Turkey feel Turkish. If they were ethnically anything else, they long forgot about it. That’s why they don’t talk about it, not because they are ashamed of being anything else or scared to say it…

I was asked earlier if I wasn’t Crypto-Greek or Armenian. I have no idea. My great parents came to Turkey from Albania because of WW1 in 1910. A few centuries earlier I guess some Ottoman soldier came there from Turkey and settled in. So where am I from ? I have no idea and frankly it doesn’t matter at all…

It’s like being Irish or Italian in New York. People vaguely know where there are from. They remember it one day a year. But does it make them Irish ? No, they are Americans now and don’t feel much about Ireland. It’s pretty much the same thing in Turkey nowadays…

To end this thread… I really wish you were right… If it was true, Turkey wouldn’t be ruled by the fools in charge now and would have a little more respect for the “others” : minorities, neighbors, etc. It’s much easier to empathize with someone if your are feeling close to them. Look at the recent history of the country… Do you see anything but hatred against anything that is not Turk ? :(
So yes, a majority of Turks are from various ethnic origins but the ones who still remember where they are from are trying so hard to forget it and deny it than they are over doing it…

UB, you are almost correct. They have been “turkeyfied” this is why they have not been exterminated, like the Kurds today.
Yes, they are called “Lazi” in Greek and yes they are Greeks who have been there for thousands of years. Not to exaggerate tens of thousands. Regardless of what our friend Turk is trying to tell you.

You are based in Turkey. Since coming to the site you have made a few racist comments and used racist language which was removed from earlier posts. Please read the Saker site rules – racism isn’t tolerated here.

4 ) All racist comments are banned, including of the Nazi racists and Jewish racist type.

“Worse, because of the “Kurdish terrorists” threatening the “poor villagers” (i.e. the Kurds themselves), the government pays the local leaders (aga – lord) to buy weapons and enroll a private army (so called protectors)”

The Kurdish terrorists aka the PKK are quite notorious for their abuses of the ordinary Kurd- extortion being a great means of wealth extraction. Forcing kurdish children into their militias.
The PKK regularly use child soldiers. As does the YPG.

However, from 1994, it appears that the PKK started to systematically recruit more and more children and even created children’s regiments. It was claimed, for example, that a children’s battalion named Tabura Zaroken Sehit Agit was composed of three divisions and was, in theory at least, run by a committee of five children aged between 8 and 12 years. Both boys and girls are recruited by the PKK.1950 In 1998, it was reported that the PKK had 3,000 children within its ranks, more than 10 per cent of whom were girls. The youngest child witnessed with the PKK was 7 years old.

Some disturbing reports have been released on recruitment practices of the PKK in Western Europe. During the summer of 1998, Rädda Barnen learnt of PKK recruitment drives in Swedish schools. Seventeen minors were invited to attend a ‘summer camp’ in July in northern Sweden before being recruited to serve the PKK in south-east Turkey. By mid-August 1998, only three of them had returned. Many families have reported their children missing to the police

A French magazine reported recently on the activities of the PKK in Kurdish communities living in France (about 100,000 people). The French police estimate the number of active PKK members at 300. In addition to taxes imposed on their incomes, some Kurdish families have to support the struggle by giving up their own children.

In fact, I see two pseudonyms here that fit the bill. Though whether behind them is one and the same person or several, doesn’t matter. Means Turkish MIT (un)intelligence service has “discovered” Saker’s web site…

You are right. The huge amount of extreme anti-Kurdish writings here, all under one same pseudonym, appear to be exactly that.

more ad hominem!

name calling and more labeling- not adding to the conversation what so ever
not sure why you allow these comments through- what point did they make?
each one of them pure ad hominem attacks to detract from the factual information being posted.

A rather superficial Turkish massive anti-Kurdish misinformation campaign attempted in a hurry, so no wonder it hasn’t worked on this site. Strange that their “MIT” can’t afford something more sophisticated, they are rapidly losing on all fronts I suppose.

You are so correct. Both, the article writer and his buddy sysati were given a job to infest this blog with Turk propaganda.
Kurds have never been terrorists, they just want freedom for turk slavery. It’s the Turks who are the oppressing minority in the country today called Turkey.

Team chaos can create war any where in the world they wish!Chaos is needed essentially for the fiat system and mostly Western capitalist system,if there’s no war everything will collapse on its own weight.’we Vs them’ is the kool aid the world society is presently drunken with.The mina region is the epic centre presently cause under the feet there is the black gold.Team chaos ultimate wish is it should be under their rule,as in the case of the wahabis!.Wahabis are owned by team chaos.
Evil putin is not owned by team chaos or for that matter dictator sadad for that matter.If they surrender today the war in ukrine and Syria will be over!.But that would not be the end then they have to create some other,”we vs them’ meme maybe for H2o!
Lets face it ,it has nothing to do with history,race,religions or colour as we are all childrens of Lucy!One day they will create a war between those who think the world is flat against those who think it is a globe!
Stop the war!stop drinking we them kool aid.

Mr. Arras must learn to master the art of the indefinite article, “a”. Would it really take that much effort for a native English speaker to read through this and correct the more glaring grammatical errors before it is published so that we could share it with people without them wondering why the editing is so sloppy? Someone please edit this thing and then repost it so it can be shared.

As to substance, the only problem I can see with Mr. Arras’s otherwise impeccable analysis is his belief that the US has allies. The US works on the Jewish model of international relations which means having no actual, bona fide “allies”, only temporary “partnerships” of convenience (even NATO is this), even if those partnerships are given the appearance of an actual alliance.

@Ezra Pound’s Ghost
Please accept my apology for screwing your language as much as US have screwed Turkey. To my defense I will just state that I am not English native speaker and I did not manage to find somebody who can made correction. I swear I did try.

Arras, I wish to apologize for the “attitude” of Ezra Pound’s Ghost. Your command of English is excellent, overall; I especially notice and admire your syntax (the relative placement of “parts of speech” within a sentence), which is often a most difficult challenge for writers/speakers who are not raised speaking English (and even many who are). You have no reason for apology.

Arras:
You need make no apologies for your English. Your essay is excellent, very informative, and we should all speak Turkish as well as you speak/write English, and we should be grateful that people whose mother tongue is not English make the effort to write in a foreign language for the edification of English speakers—the laziest linguists on the the planet—so that they can get an idea of what others think without going to the trouble to learn any foreign languages.

I am quite sure that Ezra Pound would have had no problem with your essay.

That’s just a blog with one ad.
If it doesn’t require that much effort, as you stated, why don’t you do it? Here, let me lead by example.

“Amid rising tensions between Turkey and Russia over the situation in Syria, one important fact got lost. It’s not Russia that caused the current Turkish problems. It was the USA.

The most fundamental problem modern Turkey is facing is the Kurdish question. It’s a chronic problem, which threatens the integrity of Turkey and the Turkish elite perceives it as the largest security treat the country is facing. Turkish policies in Syria are determined by the Kurdish issue more than anything else. The change from the so called policy of zero problems with neighbors, which Erdogan and his government used to promote, came as a surprise to many and is directly related to the Kurdish issue and the events in Iraq after the disastrous US invasion.

Here, a little historical excursion is needed. When the modern Turkish state was created on the ashes of the Ottoman empire following defeat in WWI, it was seeking a new identity on which it could successfully establish itself. The new young Turkish elite chose the model of nationalism, at that time a progressive concept so popular in contemporary Europe.

Turkey, just like some of its European counterparts, was however faced with the imperial heritage of diverse ethnic groups living on its newly established territory. There were large and ancient communities of Greeks, Armenians, Kurds and many other people living in Anatolia and the European part of Turkey. Ethnic Turks themselves were relative newcomers to these parts of the world, having arrived only in the 11th century. Greeks and other ethnic groups, on the other hand, can trace their presence in what is now Turkey well into the Bronze Age and beyond (3300-1200 BC).

The Turks managed to solve the Greek question after the Graeco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 and the large exchange of population which followed it. Most Greeks left Turkey and Turkey received an influx of ethnic Turks from Greece in return. The Armenian question got solved already during WWI in what many call the Armenian genocide. Term which Turkey fiercely opposes. It was a forceful deportation of Armenians into the Syrian desert. It is estimated that about 1.5 million of them died. Turkey acknowledges the fact of the deportation, but claims that loss of life was an unintended consequence rather than a deliberate act.

One ethnic question which Turkey however did not manage to solve is the Kurdish question. The Kurds are an ancient community of Iranian people who accepted Islam. They were skilled soldiers and played an important role in Islamic armies, including the Seljuk and the Ottoman. Indeed, the most famous historical Kurdish figure is Saladin (name under which he is known in the West), a Muslim general who reconquered Jerusalem during the Crusades and a sultan of Egypt and Syria.

The Turks tried to solve the Kurdish issue by straightforward assimilation. They announced that from now on, Kurds are simply „Eastern Turks“ and banned the Kurdish language. The Kurds resisted and the Turks answered with repression, forced relocation, discrimination and heavy handed military crackdown. Kurds in Turkey are since then in de facto constant rebellion and a, sometimes less sometimes more intense, war with the Turkish government, which claimed thousands of lives on both sides.

Despite having an advantage in numbers and equipment, Turkey seems to be slowly losing this war. It is estimated that Kurds make up to about 20% of the Turkish population and Kurdish families have about double the birthrate of Turkish ones. In a few decades, this will eventually lead to a situation when there will be more Kurdish than Turkish men of military age in Turkey.

To make matters worse for Turkey, Kurds do not live only in Turkey. Thanks to the post colonial legacy and arbitrariness of borders, which France and Britain drew in the sands, plains and hills of the Middle East, similarly sized Kurdish communities live in the neighboring countries of Syria, Iraq and Iran. Together they inhabit one large, almost continuous area called Kurdistan. Fortunately for the Turks, the Kurds in these countries until recently faced similar persecution as in Turkey. All these countries perceive their Kurds as a threat to their territorial integrity. The most well know episode of this repression came when Saddam Hussein used poison gas on Kurds in Northern Iraq. That was by no means an exclusive example, but one which at the time suited Western interests in the Middle East and thus received widespread publicity in Western media. After decades of silent complicity. Which brings us back to the cause of the recent change in Turkish policies and the rising tension on Turkish-Syrian border.

When the USA decided to invade Iraq in 2003, Turkey correctly concluded that the operation is pure hazard with an unpredictable outcome. In a hope of minimizing the negative impact on Turkey itself, they decided to keep strict neutrality and to not intervene, and went so far as to refuse to allow their US and British NATO allies to use Turkish territory and bases for an attack.

The US attack on Iraq and the occupation led to an all out civil war inside the country and eventually broke Iraq into de facto Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parts. All of a sudden Turkey was faced not just with Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey, but, for the first time. also with (de facto) an independent Kurdish state right on its borders which could provide a safe haven (regroup and supply) area for Kurds from inside Turkey. That was a disaster. The Turks tried to deal with the situation with limited military incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan, attempts to buy Kurdish leaders and reliance on the ability of their US partners to keep the Kurds in check and prevent damage. Something the Americans turned out not to be very capable at. Perhaps even not willing.

The lesson Erdogan and the Turkish leadership sees to have learned from the events in Iraq was likely that abstaining from conflicts in the region will not shield Turkey from negative consequences and, if Turkey can not prevent these conflicts, it’s better that Turkey participates in them and thus is at last able to protect its interests by influencing the outcome.

When the USA and their NATO allies decided to change regimes in Northern Africa and engaged in yet another imperial adventure in Libya, following initial reluctance, Turkey agreed to join. And when the USA then decided to start a war in Syria, Turkey jumped on the wagon, probably on the promise of a quick victory and the instalment of a new government of the Muslim Brotherhood, friendly to Turkey and its ruling party. Ankara might have even expected such a government to be a Turkish client. That certainly was the expectation of Riyadh, another unfortunate victim of US Middle Eastern policies.

As is the rule with similar US foreign policies, they seldom work as advertised. When Assad proved to be resilient, Ankara and Riyadh were expecting Washington to do what it did in Libya and intervene under the pretext of a no fly zone and an alleged protection of civilians, a pretext well tested already in Yugoslavia. No man however steps into the same river twice, wisdom already ancient Greeks understood. After the disaster in Libya, opposition to intervention, led prominently by Russia and China, proved to be stronger, and support inside the USA and their British and French allies weaker than might have been anticipated. A no fly zone did not materialize. Of note is, that Turks and Saudis were its most outspoken proponents and they insist on establishing a no fly zone in Syria (euphemism for a US led intervention) till today. Meanwhile, Obama’s administration walked away, quietly thankful to the Russians for the face saving pretext in form of the chemical weapons deal.

Regime change in Syria thus had to be accomplished solely through proxies in the form of a colorful collection of various more or less disgusting Sunny Islamic groups, both local and foreign. Turkey and Saudi Arabia engaged in an enthusiastic support of these groups; openly supporting those under the moderate name, and less openly others, while publicly pretending to fight them as radicals and terrorists. In reality. the only group Turkey ever really fought in Syria were Kurds. Which is ironically probably the only significant opposition group in Syria which really deserves name moderate. Despite the catastrophic heterogeneity of these opposition groups, which are willing to fight each other as much as they are willing to fight Syrian government, it seemed that the government will be eventually worn down in a war of attrition.

But then came the unexpected Russian intervention and, against all assurances from Washington about the Russians having another Afghanistan, it managed to turn the tables and forced the rebels to what is increasingly looking like an all-out retreat. This is a disaster of epic proportions for Turkey. Instead of a friendly regime of the Muslim Brotherhood type in Damascus, which Ankara would be able to control, they are faced with the creation of a second Kurdish independent state on their borders. That’s what has sent the Turkish leadership into panic mode and that’s why the Turks are seemingly irrationally rising tensions on the border with Syria. In my opinion, the downing of the Russian plane, the shelling of Kurds and the concentration of military forces on the border, accompanied with aggressive rhetoric, are not so much meant to threaten Russia or Assad, they are first of all desperate attempts to force Washington to lead an invasion in Syria at last. Which is probably something Washington itself made Ankara and Riyadh expect in the first place. Now Washington is being seen dragging their feet and backing out. Neither Turkey, nor Saudi Arabia are likely to invade alone.

To conclude, the US policies of destabilizing countries and whole regions to suit their geopolitical and economic interests in the last decade or two proved to be often as damaging to US allies as they are to US opponents. If not more. Another case in point of course is the European migration crisis. What effect is that going to have on relations between the USA and their allies on one side, and US opponents on the other, remains to be seen. But it is reasonable to expect that dissatisfaction with US leadership will be on the rise.”

I wasn’t going to trivialize such an excellent article with the mention of grammar, but since you have, I must say sincerely that I loved reading this for its intelligence, and I also enjoyed the “foreign” cadence it brought to my ear.

It taught me, as always, that intelligence is not revealed in the “indefinite article” but in the profound meaning conveyed by the words that do exist.

As Arras points out in his reply to you, rendering perfect English, or any language, requires resources. It takes a translator or an editor. It’s not too late for you to offer your services, Ghost. You could edit this article and present it as a gift to those who may care, instead of placing a burden on an author who has given us a wonderful analysis.

First I want to say that comment by Ezra Pound’s Ghost did not offend me in a slightest. I am well aware of my limited English language skills and I am also of a opinion that when one use foreign language he should try to use it as properly as he can. On the other hand as long as people comprehend message my words carry without problems, the main objective was accomplished.

@MEJ, Anonymous, Grieved appreciated :)

@GrandmaR no need to apologize, no offense was taken. And thanks a lot for link, articles really gives me headache.

@Ouroboros thanks a lot. I’ll forward it to Saker, if he will find time, perhaps he can still edit main post.

Good post. Alas, such a trivial explanation of current situation in the Middle East based on undisputed facts of history, geography and simple logic could be done prior to the October 16, 2002 when the US Congress by overwhelming majority gave cart blanche to George Bush authorizing him to start war, which eventually will really end all wars of colonialism. I am convinced that neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia will have by the end 2016 the same borders as they have now at least de facto. Mr. Arras absolutely right when saying that one cannot step back to post WW1 era.

Another thing is also certain. Absolute Weapon of Mass Destruction dictates return to Plato ideas that State must be ruled by philosophers rather than selfish cliques. Confucius who might inform Plato in this regard had set such a path 26 centuries ago quite successfully. Alternative is self-destruction, the option as meaningless as discussion of aftermath of natural disaster on the scale of that that had lead to extinction of dinosaurs.

Have you talked to a modern philosopher? Would Judith Butler make your world a better place?

The more you philosophize, the more you despiritualize.

Socrates died for his beliefs (sound familiar?) but in the end our whole understanding of him comes from his pupil. Plato set forth the Western tradition of supposedly just rule by enlightened persons, i.e. control everything — like a modern technocrat!

I prefer everyone simply learn and be taught to ask good questions, each according to their own talents and abilities. Top down can only lead to disaster, because power attracts the psychopath, the cleverest ones claiming to be so called ‘philosophers.’

Zizek is another, nervously ticking like a coke head and providing unlimited justification for the bankers and oligarchs who like to use his message as affectations for fascism. Politics is the first philosophy and if you don’t have them you are a slave.

One more thing. Perhaps in XI century they started to move down to Arab peninsula, but it wasn’t until XIII/XIV century when started to move in on Byzantium to finally take over the Constantinople in 1456AD, which would be where they are today. They lost all the other lands when Otoman Empire collapsed.
As for the Greek/Turk exchange it happened after Greece lost the war with Turkey, which Greece was pushed to (totally unfit for it) by UK, during which Greece lost its coastal lands on the east coast of the Mediterranean and south coast of Black Sea (Pontus etc) including Constantinople again). The people expelled from Turkey were mostly people from Pontus.

One key missing in your discussion of the “Kurdish Question” and semi-independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of the holdover Pres. Barzani is the deep ties between the KRG and the exceptional European settler state in Palestine. That the KRG serves the interests of the Zionist Eretz Israel can no nonger be denied, as demonstrated by upwards of 75% of Israel’s oil imports coming from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, with lots of that being the illicit oil stolen by ISIS and sold, via Turkish middlemen like Bilas Erdogan, to Israel, and Israeli arming and training of the Peshmerga. It’s no accident that Genel Energy is the largest private oil and gas concession holder in the KRG, and that Genel is owned by the Rothschilds.

Erdogan should be smart enough to know that the chaos orchestrated by the US neocons is intended to partition numerous once-secular Islamic states into perpetually warring sectarian mini-state, thereby enhancing the position of the homeland of our dual-passport holders. One can say that he apparently failed to see how his nation was among the list of those to be partitioned. However, given that he is, even today, more deeply working with Israel, perhaps he does know it, but like our neocons elects to put another nations interests ahead of his own.

Eventually such conduct will be detrimental, fatal even, to both he and US. The neocons will simply laugh and move on; “mission accomplished.”

“f 75% of Israel’s oil imports coming from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, with lots of that being the illicit oil stolen by ISIS and sold, via Turkish middlemen”

You failed to mention all the Kurdish middlemen involved- Many others have reported on this fact- was it intentionally omitted or inadvertently omitted?
I’m not referencing iraqi kurds either. YPG has been stealing oil from Syria and directing it through the Ceyhan pipeline and directly to Israel etc

“Syrian Kurdistan has been exporting its oil from the Rmeilan refinery using a pipeline built by the Baath party government,” Iraqi Kurdish Rudaw news reported Monday”

Several oil experts met with PYD leaders in western Kurdistan – [Syria] – [to discuss] how oil from the Rmeilan field could be sold via the Alyuka refineries near the Rabia district village of Mahmoudiyya,” the official, who preferred not to reveal his name told Rudaw.

The source you are citing is totally unreliable – to put it mildly. It is hog-wash, don’t pay a word they say. A rabid anti-Russian, anti-Hezbollah, anti-Assad, pro-Zionist dis-informational web site. (Just look at their other articles linked on the page to which you refer … for instance, they adulate the notorious Zionist-neocon Christopher Hitchens, etc., etc.). There are all kinds of things found on the web; to paraphrase that old say about universal tolerance of printing paper, electrons tolerate anything.

calling something a name does not make it so- You know shooting the messenger, cause you don’t like the message? “shoot the messenger” = ad hominem
bring pertinent information to the discusssion, please?

The problem, Penny, is *precisely* with “the messenger” you cite above: a notorious website designed to deliberately disseminate false information, a well known war stratagem. However, if you indeed do stand by that particular web site, tell us, so that we all know. I previously thought that you had inadvertently wandered into that site by mistake, and merely wished to warn you, assuming you were on our side.

“Saud Zarqawi, as responsible for much of the trade. Zarqawi had made a deal to smuggle the oil with Sunni tribal leaders and other prominent individuals in the Mosul area, Hassan said. The leaders reactivated existing networks with Kurdish traders who took the oil to the autonomous region”

The Kurds, not just Iraqi kurds, have been heavily involved in the ISIS oil trade

““Kurdish traders agreed to buy the oil for half of its international price and paid $1,500 for each tanker to pass through the peshmerga checkpoints in Kirkuk, Makhmour, Daquq and Tuz Khormato areas,” said Hassan, who used to get $120 to $150 for transporting crude oil but was paid as much as $300 for a round trip by people affiliated with Isis.”

In fact this article certainly suggest to me this is a PKK operation

“d he had loaded oil from the Isis-controlled area of Hemrin and taken it to Qoshtapa – a district about 30km south of the Kurdish capital, Erbil, where much of the smuggled oil appears to have been taken for refining.”

““We did not stop at the Kurdish checkpoints because there was an arrangement between the Kurdish traders and the head of the checkpoints,” Ghafar said”

Lots of Kurdish middlemen- In Turkey. In Iraq. And Syria. seems quite an organized scheme

Using a carefully cultivated network of intermediaries and “middlemen” in the Kurdish region of Iraq, as well as in Turkey, IS has been able to produce a phenomenal 45,000 barrels of oil a day, raking in as much as $3 million a day in cash by selling the oil at well below market prices.

Despite KRG arrests of Kurdish “middlemen” involved in the IS black market oil sales, evidence continues to emerge that these measures are largely piecemeal, and have failed to address corruption at the highest levels.

Hmmm. more kurdish middlemen. Well what do you know?
Money knows no ethnicity.

That’s true,there are “lumpen” in all societies. But just “how” does that play on the Turkish attacks and slaughtering of Kurds and Syrians (and now the killing of 2 Russians).The ethnic cleaning going on in the Southeast. Threatening invasions of Syria. And hooking up with the Ukrainian fascists to threaten Crimea. I fail to see how knowing that some Kurds are also crooks. Makes Turkey’s actions look any better at all.How about if we just admit that there are Kurdish crooks.And then we can go back to talking about “Turkey’s” important criminal actions instead.

“To conclude, US policies of destabilizing countries and whole regions to suit their geopolitical and economic interests in the last decade or two proved to be often as damaging to US allies as they are to US opponents.”

I believe a lot of this comes back to maintaining the US dollar as number one world currency.
With US debt increasing, making all other parts of the world look worse in comparison seems the easiest way to maintain confidence in the US dollar.

The main contenders were Russia/Europe and China. Europe has been set in turmoil and made antagonistic to Russia. Work is just beginning on China – SCS ect.
I see the new AIIB will be lending in US dollars and China -Russia trade was down in 2015 instead of up.
Until the rest of the world unites in rejecting the US dollar,everything we are seeing today will continue.

Problem USA faces is that it became sole superpower only thanks to their competitors destroying themselves in two world wars (England, France and Germany) and self destructing itself (USSR). USA did not became superpower so much thanks to it’s strength (although USA is and will be one of the great powers) as thanks to others weakness. Now as competitors regain strength (including new one China) US position is being threatened as balance of power shifts.

USA is in the same position to the world as England used to be to Europe. England is island off the coast of Europe and America is island off the coast of Euro-Asia. Just like England could not directly control Europe, USA can not directly control Euro-Asia. But Euro-Asia is where majority of worlds resources are, including the most important resource: people. Therefore only way USA can maintain it’s dominance is the same way England did. It have to prevent powers on the “mainland” becoming too powerful, preferably by making them fight each other constantly. Problem is of course existence of nuclear weapons. That puts restrictions on US ability to weaken their opponents because USA have to do it without starting major war. Hence most modern wars are, and will be proxy wars.

And that’s the reason why USA seeks chaos everywhere (except in USA itself of course). It’s their way of weakening all others. And now that includes their allies to (most importantly EU and Japan). That did not used to be case until some 20 years ago. While USSR existed, USA made sure both their main satellites, Western Europe and Japan (with South Korea) benefit from US policies. However since disappearance of the Communism, Western Europe and Japan suddenly got other choice: strategic alliance with Russia and China. That did not happen overnight of course, it’s gradual process and is related to resurgence of Russia and rise of China. To prevent that, USA now have to make sure that not just their opponents remain weak, but their allies (in reality clients) are weak too. But that’s dangerous, desperate policy because at one point it can cost USA it’s allies.

As for Dollar, that’s not principal source of US power. Dollar is vehicle by which USA extract resources from rest of the world (their imperial domain). USA needed strength to impose Dollar on the rest of the world in the first place. And that power was primarily post WWII military one. Of course once in the place, by extracting resources, Dollar makes USA powerful, so Dollar and US military are in a way serving each other. Still to challenge US empire, challenger have to defeat it militarily (obviously not in direct confrontation because of nukes). Then Dollar will be brought down as a consequence. What we see in Syria and Ukraine, is exactly such military confrontation.

» Still to challenge US empire, challenger have to defeat it militarily (obviously not in direct confrontation because of nukes). «

Remember how Obama wanted to “abolish nuclear weapons”? Back then, that didn’t make sense to me – after all, if they were here, how could you uninvent them? You’d want to be sure to have some ready for action, just in case … given their extraordinary power, they’d be here forever.

But if these particular weapons only existed in a platonic way, they could be abolished like the celestial spheres … and a direct confrontation would also be possible.

With this in mind: Why is Uncle Sam trying to remilitarize Europe? Is it just to sell arms? Or is there more to it?

@Lumi
Depends on what you mean by re-militarization of Europe. If you mean Uncle Sam pressing European countries to increase military spending, that’s purely rhetorical exercise. In reality he re-militarized Europe able to defend itself is the last thing Uncle Sam wants. He isn’t very insisting and if he really wanted, he could be. What he wants is European countries having small “expeditionary” type of armies which can assist in US colonial wars but are not capable of defending their own countries. Uncle Sam wants Europe to need him for protection.

And really, under US advisers, most post Warsaw pact countries which became members of NATO practically dismantled their armies and reduced them to few light brigades plus some specialist troops (like engineers for demining, chemical protection troops and so on). Big countries like France or England are slowly reducing their armies as well. Few months ago Germans found out that Bundeswehr does not have ani-tank rounds for their tanks. When Britain started bombing Libya, their airforce run out of bombs in three or so days and Brits had to ask Americans for more.

On the other hand if you mean re-militarization with US troops, again, I believe things are not what they seem to be. Uncle Sam feel need to reassure some of his client states that he is willing to defend them. Especially those that were aggressive towards Russia and now looking at the Ukraine feel insecure, like Poland or Baltic states. But that consist of moving few tanks here, stationing few aircraft there, marching others from their base in Germany to Romania and back and this time using roads so that everybody see them. Normally such transfers would have being done using railway, because it’s more economical. Add lot of exercises and most importantly plenty of stout statements by NATO officials. But you don’t see armored divisions being offloaded in Antwerp and B2s landing in Fairford. Some equipment and units will be moved to Europe but in numbers significant enough to change current balance.

What I see as more serious is that there are NATO bases being now build, or are planed to be build on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe and Balkans.

Uncle Sam is not planing to fight Russia. Everybody understands that such confrontation would probably turn nuclear. Russians btw understand that as well and they are not planing to attack NATO country. Scaremongering in some EU countries is pure hysteria.

The midget terrorist PM just came and said he has made turkey better for Russian tourists and he expects to see an influx of sudden demand picking up soon.. tomorrow like.. Other wise he will conquer Russia in a week and deport all Russians to the Turkish beaches by force.

Pepe was much better.. I did not understand most of what he said..

Darkness dawns at the break of noon, sirens blare, red alerts convulse – and it feels like we’re 30 seconds from the 9th circle of hell. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of demented intensity.

Is this the end, beautiful friend?

Dada is a state of mind – pretty much the ideal antidote to manifestations of Cold War 2.0; it is all about destabilizing pomposity; search and destroy symbols; dislocation of language. So with multiple intimations of doom shaping the onset of (fake) WWIII, what’s best than to keep on truckin’ fueled by impertinence and fantasy? After all, “Life is a Cabaret” (Voltaire). Come to the cabaret.

Cut to a gaggle of rollicking Wahhabis making a cabaret entrance, complete with jets overflying Incirlik. They seem to be getting ready for…boo hoo! Ground operations in Syria! They desire it.

“The timing is not up to us,” moan the Wahhabis. So, thirsty for the limelight, and adding to the suspense, enter… the Turks! “The best time to enter Syria is now,” howl the pro-AKP hordes from Ankara to Antalya.

Onwards to the Jarablus pocket, north of the Azaz-Munbij line! It’s Kurd-shelling time!

In the face of the modernization it was always predictable that Kurdish nationalism would grow stronger. Except for the way the Turks handled their “Armenian problem” there is only one way to keep the Kurds inside Turkey: don’t rock the boat. Spain with its Basques and Catalans is a good example.

There is an old saying: you can start a war but you never know how it will end. By helping to start a conflict in Syria Turkey started the process that led to the Kurdish autonomous area in Syria. They carry the blame – not the US.

Yet things are still up in the air. At the moment it seems unlikely that the Kurdish areas in Syria and Iraq will become independent. It rather seems that they will get a delineated area and some autonomy. Turkey could give its Kurds the same – and to a considerable extent they already have it. Unfortunately, Erdogan chose to antagonize the Kurds for electoral purposes. This was his second blunder. And it doesn’t work very well in the face of what is happening in Iraq and Syria. But even if nothing had happened in those countries it would be a disastrous policy that increases the chances that one day Turkish Kurdistan will be independent.

Thank you, Arras for clarifying Anatolia, Turks and Kurds, a most complex and confusing mess.

You end, “Another case in point of course is European migration crisis. What effect is that going to have on relations between USA and their allies on one side and US opponents on the other remains to be seen. But it is reasonable to expect, that dissatisfaction with US leadership will be on a rise.”

Just before dropping in on the Vineyard of the Saker, and reading your excellent post I watched this video Why Women Destroy Nations/ Civilizationshttps://youtu.be/UxpVwBzFAkw Which I believe gives valuable insight into the migration crisis and the western-emgineered Clash of Civilizations, AND “gender politics”in general, which I believe are “intimately related”, so to speak.

Ladies, before you get up in arms, bear with me for a moment. What I am really suggesting here is neither an extreme patriarchal nor a matriarchal ordering of nations or civilization. I advocate a healthy balance on both the microcosmic level of the individual and the macrocosmic level of society and civilization. And I will submit that the western patriarchal NWO elite are consciously instigating unablanced consciousness, war and genocide in order to maintain their sort of “contro;” through Chaos. It just struck me that Turkey is screwed, precisly because it has been caught up in this strategic maelstrom of a gender imbalanced sort (on the fundamental level of human consciousness) that the west, not Turkey, and not Islam, initiated.

What I am indicating is that the gender issue is being used in standard imperial “Divide and Conquer” fashion by the extreme Masculine left brain imbalanced western oligarchy to mentally rape and imbalance 1) Individuals, both male and female 2) entire nations (Sweden is given as the most extreme example in the video) and civilizations in order to bring about their New World Order of human slavery.

Brilliant! I think one can predict that these next years are the end of any left over Ottoman dreams, and Erdogan. Since Russia and Europe together need to eliminate ISIS and related groups, looks like they will. US will not eliminate ISIS by any means available. Watching the growing rage of US NATO allied populations, NATO does not look like it will be tolerated much longer. I think it is too rigid a group being as it is an arm, proxy army, of the US Pentagon, to morph into a group of EU members that will strengthen Europe. Was never ever mean so from the beginning.

Sorry Arras
Though much appreciated, any article that does not include the Zio nist influence in it’s analysis is either misinformed, or a deliberate piece of deflective mis-information. I stopped reading after the statement that Kurds are Iranian!?!?
No. Kurds are Kurds, Iranians are Iranians. They share some of the same language, but so do Americans and Indians.
American foreign policy is dictated by ‘you know who’. Confusion and chaos is the name of the game. Qui bono reveals more than anything in this article.

What he meant by that was, that “Kurds” were an “Iranic” people. Not modern day “Iranians” who in the past would be called Persians. There relationship is like the Germans and Flemish. Both “Germanic” but the Flemish aren’t Germans as such. The real “Turks” ( the share of Turkic DNA in European Turkey at around 13% and in Anatolian Turkey at 22% at most) would look like people in Kazakhstan and further East. How many Turks has anyone seen that look like those peoples. Today’s “Turks” are very heavily a mixed population ,bound together by assimilation to an “image” of themselves as “Turks”. Very much a concept developed in the Ottoman days and by Ataturk after. During Ataturk’s time hundreds of thousands of diverse peoples were forcefully (sometimes literally by force. Sometimes by fear of terror) renamed and converted into “Turks”.Estimates are as high as 5 million people today would fall under those groups.Erdagon is “reputed” to have Georgian ancestry and Davutoğlu to have Crimean Tatar (possibly Jewish Crimean) ancestry. That might account for part of their Russophobia.

The article is a good overview of the situation today. I’d only like to make a couple of points. I think in minimizes a bit the Greek-Turkish exchange of populations. That was a savage and violent forced ethnic cleansing. And on the Armenian Genocide. Turkish claims that they are innocent because “we only expelled them,we didn’t know they’d die”. Wouldn’t hold water in any legal court. Too many pictures of hanged bodies,firing squads,and of raped women to absolve Turkey of guilt. Not even to mention. When you expel millions of people into a desert without food and water ,under guard to prevent them running away. You “know” exactly what is going to happen. It “offends” common sense to dare claim otherwise,as Turkey does.

But to today’s situation. Of course, in today’s World. If you attack people inside your country,they are going to rebel (self-defense if nothing else). That is Turkey’s huge error to start with. Second,just how stupid do they have to be, to not realize that the best thing they could have done was to “cooperate” with Syria’s government. Not work to destroy it. Syria was “friendly” to Erdagon at the start. They ,like Turkey,worried over their Kurdish minority. But instead of working for stability “with” them. Erdagon “slit his own throat” with aggression against them. I can’t find any sympathy available for him. And unless Turkey gets rid of him and stops their aggression,they will end up with a “Kurdish state” inside Turkey itself.And Erdagon will go down in history as the “destroyer” of modern Turkey. In 2006 the US put out maps showing their ideas for a “new” MENA. How Turkey could have missed that those maps showed their “NATO ally” planned to dismember their country is totally beyond me.All Eastern Turkey is on those maps as “Kurdistan” ,a separate country. Erdagon may think to “use” the US for his own dreams. But they will turn on him in a heartbeat (and on Turkey itself). They already have their plans for Turkey. And those don’t include Eastern Turkey remaining Turkish. Unless the Turkish peoples wake up to that. It will be too late for them.

The use of the map at a conference meeting by a colonel from the U.S. National War Academy angered Turkish military officers.

Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit called the U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, and protested the incident. U.S. military authorities admitted the mistake, for which they apologized to Turkey.

For reference the map is the 2006 one published by Ralph Peter’s Blood Border’s article (more here)

UB1: Excellent summary. I would like to add that only in Smyrna in 1922, Anglo-French armada stood by and watched ~340,000 people drown in the sea while fleeing Turkish slaughter.
I concur that Kurds are Indo-european Persians (Iranic people as we would say it today), just like some others in the neighborhood. All speak ancient Persian dialects.

Iranian people are speakers of Iranian languages. Iranians -that is Persians are just one of many people who belong to this ethno-linguistic group. Others being for example Kurds, Ossetians, Tajiks. Sarmatians, Scythians, Allani and some other historic people also belonged to Iranian people.

Hence, I used the used the term “Iranic”. Just as “Germanic” is used for related people but non-Germans. And “Turkic” for related but non-Turkish peoples. BTW one of the main Iranic speaking peoples let out of that list are Armenians.

Excellent article. However, since I live in Europe, I would like to point out that the situation with Turkey and Saudi Arabia is both complex and yet, at the same time, very simple. Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are run by Muslim fundamentalists. The Turks cannot forget the Ottoman Empire, which they wish to resurrect, while Saudi Arabia cannot grasp the fact that it has entered the 21st century, living in the Middle Ages, and aspiring to convert Christian Europe into the Muslim faith. Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are, from the ethnic point of view, heterogeneous, something they forgot. In trying to impersonate imperial powers, both have ended up in a prepostrous state of facing political and geographic dissolution, not to mention the fact that both are now facing financial diffuculties, a price all imperial powers pay in the end. I think that in the end both Turkey and Saudi Arabia will collapse. They started a process they cannot stop.

This is disaster of epic proportions for Turkey. Instead of friendly regime of Muslim Brotherhood type in Damascus, which Ankara would be able to control, they are faced with creation of second Kurdish independent state on it’s borders.

Well, this is almost exactly what i wrote some days ago: there will be Kurdistan, of course!

But, big but, independent Kurdistan will not be on turkish borders but a cut off part of (then) former Turkey.
Take a geographic tool (e.g. GoogleEarth) and draw a polygon, starting at [latitude,longitude] 36.579302,38.367876 along with 37.300659,44367864 38.334067,43.033394 (important, sic!) 41.086760,40.620743 and, pivot, 40.982615,40.016628 [copy&paste is your friend].

Now wait until political establishment of Turkey aglow with enthusiasm welcomes Kurdistan (new Treaty of Versailles). Until then every some day move the pivot point along the coast of the Black Sea to the west until it is exactly north of starting point (same latitude but at the coast line of the Black Sea). I’m pretty sure (not only) any Erdogan will be delighted of Kurdistan long before.

Starting point is essential so Sanjak of Alexandretta could return to Syria, were it belongs to much the same way like Crimea belongs to Russia. Important point (above) really is important, so there is some free space left east of Kurdistan. It’s not up to your phantasy what this free space is designated for (you could bluntly see it on the map). This way Kurdistan will be supported by all of it’s eastern and southern neighbours. And – you mentioned it – already strong curdish army (BTW: 54% of curdish army are women which already proclaimed not turning back into the kitchen after the war in Syria and/or Irak ended) will protect it’s neigbours from Turkey (no longer appearing as successor of the Otoman Empire).

Kurdistan as described above will be one of many rollbacks. Rollbacks of almost all AngloSaxon imperialism. And best of it all, the AngloSaxons have determined Turkey to be Germany of 21st century. It’s them (AngloSaxons) who will enforce Turkey (after IS battle in Syria and Irak) to storm against Russia and thereafter loosing … Kurdistan. Thus the AngoSaxons will cause their own rollback.

If it’s not about 1000s and 100s of thousands victims i would like to say: good times, very good times!

Couldn’t care less about the Turks. What goes around comes around. They have dealt out plenty of evil through the millennia and now the payback is coming full bore.
For all the endless geo-political psycho babble that gets posted I believe Genesis 16-12 explains everything going on in the Middle East.

While we are at „psycho babble“, as you say – and give us the correct and true explanation of „everything“ by pointing us to Genesis 16-12, let us add some more to it, just to „clear the waters“.
We gullible people, have a strange tendency to also read the stuff written before and after the quoted lines from the Holy Bible. To grasp the context, not just the text. So, going just a bit further back, there is Genesis 16-3:
„And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his WIFE.“
I do not know about your language, but in mine the word „wife“ doesn’t mean a concubine (and the Holy Bible distinguishes strictly between wives and concubines), nor a surrogate-mother, nor a hooker. I highly doubt that any prophet of God, especially Abraham (peace be upon him) would sire a child in any manner except what is lawfull in the site of God. And the Almighty God accepts ONLY marriage! In spite of what many like to think, Abraham was no sissy, he was a true patriarch, bending his will ONLY under God’s wishes, and NOT Sarah’s!
Then we come to Genesis 17, where we find Abraham concerned (according to the Septuagint) about the well being of Ishmael (peace be upon him). In Genesis 17-20, God Allmighty says: „And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.“ Not to confuse us with the „covenant“ later on, God says earlier in the same speech:
17:„9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 THIS IS MY COVENANT, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.“
Clear enough. There is later some talk about some „special covenant“ with Isaac (peace be upon him) – but with no specifics!
Why does the Allmighty God bless „the wild ass of a man“, the „troublemaker“, the one who „spreads disorder on the earth“? Can’t He make up His mind? And all the while, the „wild one“ keeps the covenant by the circumcission?! I am reading what is there – I can’t read what is not there!
On the other hand, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac (peace be upon them all) descend from Shem. The Turks descend from Japhet, just like the Slavic tribes!
So, the situation in the ME is not so clear, as you wish it to be, don’t you think?

Clear to me. Genesis 16-12 seems pretty transparent in describing the nature of Ishmael and his offspring and lo and behold what do we see in the MIddle East, Muslims butchering each other in the name of their shared savior. We can see how many refugees Saudi Arabia has taken in from Syria in the name of Allah the merciful.
All clear to me.

I agree, mate. That is why it was revealed:
“Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle,- nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning).” (Holy Qur\an 7:179)

I look at the fruits of Islam and I see- Intolerance, subjugation ( women, religious minority’s in Muslim states, secularists etc). I see people condemned to death for turning away from Islam because Islam cannot compete in the free marketplace of ideas but only by force. I see no love in Islam, no compassion , only obedience to authority. All I see in Islam is the death and destruction that a false belief can give.
Mathew 7-16. You shall judge a tree by the fruit it bears
I look at the Middle East and I see the fruit of Islam .
Islam- Submit or be submitted.

Yeah…..but, thankfully, there are progressive forces operating in that region (USA, UK, France…..and recently Russia) who are doing their best to develop and change those savages and bring them to the right path. God only knows what would the situation look like without the interference of the Good Samaritans……

I think the words of George Orwell fit the situation , not only in the Middle East but around the world and especially between Islam and the west
” The real division is not between Conservatives and Revolutionaries but between Authoritarianism and Libetarians.

1. Excellent – an article about what is happening in the region. I’m tired of hearing about Syria – Syria – both people and Assad – are the victims of actions of others. This is a story of what Saudi, Turkey Qatar and the US are doing to Syrians. It is not a story of the reactions of Syria and later Russia.

2. I’m fed up of hearing how Turkey’s behaviour is complicated and that you can’t judge it on what is happening in Syria, but you have to include the Kurdish angle.
No – what Turkey is doing with Kurds in and outside Turkey is wrong – plain and simple.
What Turkey is doing with ISIS and al Quaeda is just plain wrong too.
This is very very simple and very very wrong – no excuses whatsoever.

3. To what extent does the real blame lie with the US. Well Cambodia was a nasty disaster and the blame seems to me to lie mostly with the US. Vietnam ditto. Afghanistan mostly. Georgia entirely. Ukraine is truly fxxxed for the next 50 years and we can clearly blame the US for that. Venezuela (bigger proven oil reserves than Saudi) has largely screwed itself up (though I’d like to hear more).

Turkey seems to have been looking out for itself prior to Erdogan, so he has to take a big chunk of the blame.
Saudi are in for big problems when the world wakes up to it. Problems entirely of their own making. Ditto Israel. Indeed both are probably more guilty of manipulating the US than of the other way around.

I suspect many have been fooled by people claiming to be “The US Administration”. There are many groups, they compete, they lie, and the only thing in common is that the President has to apologise for all of them. Indeed for all the complications of ME diplomacy, the wranglings between competing versions of the US administration are far more complicated.

All the above are just thoughts – meant to provoke discussion, not condemnation.

Michael, very correct. Turkey has been abusing all it’s smaller neighbours for centuries. Turkey’s problem is as follows: How much can it trust the Kurds drafted to its forces?
If and when Kurds gain their independence Turkey will lose almost a third of its population, not to mention big swath of its territory.

A desaster is when the stars – astra – are misaligned so the cosmic harmony is not good for your endeavour so it will fail.

But Uncle Sam’s war on other continents – always far away, on other continents – do not happen through misalignment of stars either in the sky or on the spangled banner.

Many years ago I noticed a systematic tendency in the news here in Germany to report on actions taken by the USA as if it were a natural force where things “happen” rather than a political body where humans are to be held responsible – for their crimes.

This is what is called “the law of unintended consequences”. Idiomatically: “many go out for wool and come home shorn”.
But I would rather think that actuallyTurkey tried to “bite off more than one can chew”. The toxic combination of Neo-Ottomanism and Pan-Turkism promoted by the Turkish branch of the Muslim Brotherhood shows that they had far bigger dreams (they had their eyes on the Balkans and the Black Sea too). It is not impossible that the Americans were not prepared to go along. They even might be pissed off with the attempts of Erdogan to blackmail them and Europe.

“the US policies of destabilizing countries and whole regions to suit their geopolitical and economic interests”.

What this point leaves out is biggest piece of the puzzle and that is the Jewish State of Israel.

The purpose of the Zionist run US policies in the Middle-East are first and foremost to protect and setup the entire region for total Israeli Jewish Zionist dominance.

You cannot assess and analyze what is happening in the Middle-East, you cannot mention the invasion of Iraq, etc…..without mentioning.

If you leave out Israel from the story, the story makes no sense. The story becomes speculation, and opinions, and does not connect the dots correctly to get the overall picture and make the pieces of the puzzle fall in place.

Agreed!
And finance, money always goes through banking, every bullet, missile and bomb flying is paid for, they know who pays and who buys.
The stolen Syrian and Iraq oil going through Turkey has been hedged, sold forward, insured and re-insured so there are defaults pending risk losses which the Turko gang will have to settle with the Russian Israelis.. good luck.

Thereafter there will be claims and adjustments (Syria and Iraq) for the stolen resources otherwise the global institutions will have failed their justice mandates.

Russia will enforce the territorial integrity of Syria because Putin is a man of his word, there will not and cannot be a partitioning of Iraq without the consent of it’s government.

At this point Turkey is irrelevant, Nato financed and provided air cover while infiltrating jihadists while Merkel covered some costs (probably oil delivery defaults), but now the thief (also a liar) is on his own and the Kurds are his diversion.
It is amazing to read Erdo being considered an intelligent leader while evoking killing of humans and agitating neighboring nations. The big problem is the bad example set by major nation leaders who attempt to manage other nations because they lack the skills to manage their own.

President Assad has indicated if elected he is open to re-constitute Syria’s mandate and open to federalization as people’s choice.

These wars have only diluted and dissipated the wealth of the western world, the only productive utility of western money creation has gone to China where Beijing asset aggregates alone are worth more than the entire US.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot, and all this for Israel.

The paradox however is that the money and most governments are owned, so these shenanigans are to own whatever geography with resources may be easily stolen, lives are collateral damage.

Precedence is being established and karma will be a bitch when the Dragon awakens.

The Dragon is already awake. It is just watching and waiting. The delusional petty leaders of the Western World still believe they are King-Of-The-Hill because they can destroy: Destroy their own economies, destroy cultures and destroy countries and destroy ther own concept of human dignity.

Bravo- and finally! I am so glad to see this type of information presented. Particularly since it ties in so well with the many articles I’ve done on this topic

“To conclude, the US policies of destabilizing countries and whole regions to suit their geopolitical and economic interests in the last decade or two proved to be often as damaging to US allies as they are to US opponents”

And the policy of destabilizing both Iraq and Syria was inevitably going to be destabilizing to Turkey. Turkey knew this when Iraq was attacked in 03. As Turkey’s leadership knew that in the case of Syria.

However, I contend that the US did this intentionally to Turkey as their goal of remaking the middle east was of the utmost importance to their partner and “only democracy” in the ME- Israel

It’s too bad that Israel’s role in all this was not mentioned. Because Israel has benefited directly from the weakening of all the nations. Iraq. Syria. Egypt. Which will soon enough have another issue of it’s own to contend with. Iran also..

Having written about the destabilization of Turkey more then a year and a half ago, I feel very vindicated that my theorizing was correct

Turkey and its leaders have not forgotten Ottoman Empire and dream of it ever since Turkey was raised from the ashes of 1920 by West. Ever since that time Turkey has been financed, has been supported and has been assisted to become the present criminal state that has invaded Cyprus and occupies 40% of it, invaded Iraq and Syria and now is violating and claiming the Aegean and the Greek Islands of the Aegean. Daily it asks for a WAR against a ruined Greece by EU=Germany. I would not blame USA at all about what Turkey is doing right now in Middle East and against Kurds of all the area wherever they live and of course the Kurds in Turkey, who suffer under the Turkish known policies of Genocide. Genocide of Armenians, Genocide of Greeks, gradual extermination of Kurds now, Genocide of Kurds of South east Asia. All the above crimes are covered up by West and never see the light of publicity in West because Turkey is protected by Allies. It is about time the world learned what the Turks have done and are doing to all their neighbours.

Thanks for the great article; however, if I were writing on the issue of Kurds and Turkey, I would make the title ‘Kurds are screwed, and its not just America’s fault’! Since we tend not to mention Kurds in Iraq and concentrate more on Syria, perhaps it is appropriate to mention the Iraqi Kurds as well. As mentioned in this article, Saladin fought as a Moslem and not as a Kurd. Throughout the modern era of nation state building, the Kurds have been used as pawns by colonial powers to PREVENT nations from becoming unified. The Kurds (in Iraq) were massacred by the British in the early 20th century. The Kurdish history is filled with tragedy and betrayal, but as someone mentioned in the comment section, the leaders are the biggest traitors. Forgetting the colonial oppression and murders, Kurdish leaders turned to Israel for support. The Iraqi Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) was founded in 1946 by a group of Iraqi Kurdish intellectuals. Mullah Mustafa Barzani, who had been in the forefront of the Kurdish struggle since 1923, took on the leadership of the KDP. Under Barzani’s tutelage, the KDP developed into a potent guerrilla organization which staged major battles against a succession of Iraqi regimes. The Kurdish history is filled with tragedy and betrayal, but as someone mentioned in the comment section, the leaders are the biggest traitors. When Iraq became a staunch ally of the former Soviet Union (15 year Iraqi-Soviet friendship treaty in 1972 symbolizing this), Barzani, with the financial and military support of the Shah, Israel and the USA, managed to engage the Iraqi troops for over four years in protracted guerrilla warfare, inflicting heavy casualties on the Iraqi forces. The reliance on Iran and US was catastrophic for the KDP. After his defeat, his sons, Idris and Massoud, reconstructed a wing of the KDP under the banner of the Kurdish Democratic Party-Provisional Leadership, and continued to fight the Iraqi regime. His son Idris died but Massoud Barzani continued the leadership. Although Barzani and Jalal Talabani had their differences since the 1960s (due to the fact that Barzani signed a ceasefire with the Iraqi regime without the approval of the KDP Politburo led by Nuri Taha, Omar Mustafa, Ibrahim Ahmad and Talabani), they really came to a head when Barzani’s over reliance on the Shah and his “Western supporters” proved to be catastrophic and the cause of the defeat of the Kurdish resistance. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan(PUK) was then initiated by Talabani in November 1975, and it is now the largest Iraqi Kurdish movement. The PUK remained in the forefront of Kurdish resistance against Iraq until 1983. However, in a major turnaround, Talabani then announced that the PUK had accepted a ceasefire with Saddam Hussein’s regime and would entertain the idea of limited autonomy. In spite of the heavy losses during the Gulf War, the Iraqi government remained in power and was able to beat back advances made by the Kurdish forces during the war. By April 1991, the Iraqi army was heavily involved in a fierce counterattack against the Kurds. The creation of a ‘safe haven’, the first of its type by largely European and American UN forces, was the first time in history that an international force had been deployed to protect the Kurds. Furthermore, it was a force stationed on Turkish soil and with which Turkey cooperated. There was still discord between Barzani and Talabani (at that time under the umbrella of Kurdistan National Front (KNF). Barzani was willing to accept that Kirkuk and its oil fields would be administered by Baghdad, although there would be oil revenue sharing with the Kurdish autonomous zone. Talabani was less inclined to consider such concessions. The differences among the leaders of the KNF continued throughout 1991 and early 1992 – which could also explain why the weak Iraqi army made such strides. The fractionalism within the KNF contributed to the ability of the Iraqi government to contain the area of defacto Kurdish autonomy. We are all aware of the recent history and the massacre of the Kurds (and Iraqi Shia) who were encouraged by Bush senior to rise up against Saddam and US abandoned them when they did and got massacred. Fast forward 2003. In spite of all this betrayal, the Kurds cooperated with Israel and received training from them. Once again, the Syrian Kurds (who have the political support of Israel as they did when Israel, the Shah and US used them against Saddam) are under the impression that US will back them against Turkey. What foolishness and what wasted life. The Soviets (later Russians) have always supported the Kurds (as far as I am aware) and after the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian government has also done the same (with the exception of a splinter group of iranian kurds that joined forces with the MEK and were killed). A very long and complicated history which is virtually impossible to simplify, but the point being that 1. Turkey would not assault the Kurds without American blessings, 2. Turks have suffered because of their modern day leadership and trusting (even cooperating) with those who use them as pawns. And course, this leadership betrayal applies to the Turks (and Saudis and other Arabs involved in Syria). Turkey believes it has the support of NATO. I am sure NATO would love to encourage the Turks to test the Russian S-300 and S-400 which have not been battle-tested. As far as the empire is concerned, the less populated the region, the better for it and its boss Israel.

A very simplistic and far too turko-phile an analysis.
we read nothing about
– the abhorent treatment of kurds by turks over the last 40 years!
– the lack of any problem with the ‘right’ kurds – namely barzani
– the shameful history of water deprivation by turkey against iraq and syria!
– nothing of the overarching akp plan to placate kurds until presidential reform has been achieved and then wipe them out.
– nothing of the persecution in turkey of all minorities not just kurds
… need I go on?

Turkey does not get to blame everyone else for its sectarian dictatorial and new-ottoman aspiring policies. turkish politics is duplicitous and exploitative. for this reason turkey finds itself utterly alone.
Lastly it is also worth mentioning that turkish nationalism and the new turkish nationalistic islam are particularly nasty and unessecarily aggressive.
turkey is a democracy. the people voted for this sectarian hatred.

since the syrian wars inception turkey has tried tp create a situation whereby nato ornun would be dragged in to finish off assad and haand northern syria to the turks.
the turka atole the proposes land allocation to kurds suring the sykes period and the turks plan now to steal syrian and iraqi kurdish lands. the current bombing campaigns are the prelimonary process of ethnic cleansing.

Re: “might be worth reading the below and then then trying to admonish turks of resposibility.”

The word admonish means to reprove, caution or warn. I suspect that the word you meant to use was absolve which means to release from blame, sin, obligation or responsibility, or to pronounce not guilty.

Turks were the first group of people to settle in Anatolia. They are the continuation of Sumerians who were in Anatolia much before the Greeks. Then Sumerians got dissolved from the inside by Akkadians, the semitic people of that time. They were basically pre-Hebrew people who did not have their Jewish religion yet. Then the Turks moved to different parts of the world. Some went to north of Spain (Basque people), others went to Italy-Tuscany (Etruscans) and most of them went to Central Asia. Around 345 AD Turks migrated to Europe and destroyed Western Roman Empire (Commander of the Army was Attila the Hun) just because those Romans killed their Etruscan brothers at the start of the Roman Empire and settled in Europe since then, they are the Hungarians now. Other Turks that remained in Central Asia came back to Anatolia around 900 AD under Seljuks rule. During the Ottoman Era the Turks got their revenge fully by destroying the Eastern Roman Empire.

So in short, the Turks can be killed and defeated, their states can be destroyed but make sure that you kill them till their last standing person. Otherwise, that one person will return and get his revenge back by building stronger states and armies even if it happens a few millenniums later.

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